Nine West Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and will restructure around its profitable and growing businesses, including One Jeanswear Group, The Jewelry Group, The Kasper Group and Anne Klein. The retailer received a $300 million loan from investors to fund operations during the process.

The bankruptcy process will facilitate the sale of the Nine West and Bandolino footwear and handbag business. Authentic Brands Group will submit an initial bid, and a competitive auction for the business will follow.

Although retail employment slipped by 6,400 in March, job numbers were ahead for the year and stronger than a year ago, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said.

Industry employment in March 2018 was 30,800 higher than unadjusted March 2017 figures and followed the addition of 42,400 jobs in February. The three-month moving average in March showed an increase of 14,200 jobs, as compared to an increase of 10,600 jobs in the three-month moving average for February.

Instacart raised $350 million in a Series E financing round led by Coatue Management, putting the grocery delivery company’s valuation at $4.35 billion. The round includes $200 million in funding that Instacart previously announced in a February blog post. The company has raised more than $1 billion since its founding in 2012.

Instacart will use the capital to double the size of its team, further expand its footprint across North America and invest in new products and services. The company has partnered with major grocery retailers including Kroger, Albertsons, Publix, Costco, Ahold Delhaize, HEB, Loblaw and Sam’s Club, and recently added BJ’s Wholesale Club and Fresh Thyme Farmers Market as well.

UPDATE: Best Buy confirmed in a statement that a number of customers may have had their payment information compromised during the [24]7.ai payment breach.

Best Buy has not revealed the number of potential customers affected by the breach, indicating “a small fraction of our overall online customer population could have been caught up in this [24]7.ai incident, whether or not they used the chat function.”

Sears confirmed that one of its customer support services experienced a security incident in fall 2017 that may have exposed credit card information of nearly 100,000 Sears customers. The incident also affected Delta Airlines consumers.

[24]7.ai, an AI-powered chatbot platform that provides online support services to Sears and Kmart, notified Sears of the breach in mid-March 2017, the retailer revealed in a blog post. Sears immediately notified the credit card companies to prevent potential fraud, and launched an investigation with federal law enforcement authorities, banking partners and IT security firms.

Chef’dChef’d will now offer customizable meal kits through the Innit app. Shoppers can order the exact ingredients they want and receive personalized instructions in-app, merging the journey from meal planning to preparation on one platform.

Once the ingredients in a meal are selected, shoppers can choose the date when Chef’d will deliver their purchase. The preparation process is simplified by “Culinary GPS” video guidance on the Innit app, which sequences steps so that every part of the meal is finished at the same time.

The use of virtual reality (VR) in the retail and marketing sectors is expected to generate $1.8 billion in 2022, up from $181 million in the last year, according to ABI Research. The technology has reached a point where VR can further enhance the at-home shopping experience.

The fashion, beauty and furniture industries have been the quickest to adopt VR and augmented reality (AR), with retailers including Macy’s, L’Oréal, IKEA and Ashley Furniture investing in these capabilities.

Giant Food, GIANT/MARTIN’S and Stop & Shop are the latest supermarket chains to roll out the Guiding Stars nutrition navigation program, which highlights particularly healthful items. Products can have one-star, two-star or three-star ratings, representing whether they have good, better or the best nutritional value.

The labels will appear at all 166 Giant, 171 GIANT/MARTIN’s and 410 Stop & Shop locations, as well as on tens of thousands of items offered by the Peapod grocery delivery service. Peadpod will let customers sort products by their Guiding Star rating on its e-Commerce site.

Following a successful pilot in 2017, Lenta is sharpening its customer-focused pricing approach by deploying Revionics Price Optimization across all of its hypermarkets and supermarkets this year. The retailer will be positioned to leverage advanced analytics services powered by AI and machine learning, which includes:

BJ’s Wholesale Club has partnered with the New York Yankees for 2018, the first partnership with the team in the retailer’s history. The sponsorship will give BJ’s shoppers a chance to win game tickets, exclusive Yankees experiences and memorabilia.

BJ’s will work with the Yankees to build the retailer’s brand awareness and drive sales in the New York tri-state area and other regions. The retailer carries a variety of goods that are marketable to baseball fans, including peanuts, popcorn, sunscreen and sunglasses.